Ray Allen Discusses UConn's Future While In Storrs

STORRS — — Ray Allen does not know what decision Jim Calhoun will make, but he knows it will not be easy.

Allen does not know who would succeed Calhoun if he were to retire, but he knows one guy who has what it takes.

"Kevin [Ollie] is a great role model," Allen said Saturday at his camp for youngsters at E.O. Smith High. "He always inspired me to work harder."

Allen, who left the Celtics to join the world-champion Miami Heat this offseason, can speak to tough decisions, difficult transitions. He's no longer playing in New England, but a big part of him remains vitally interested in the basketball direction at UConn, the school where he first made his national name.

Working with ProCamps, Allen is hosting about 160 kids in Storrs this weekend, with proceeds from the camp benefiting his Ray of Hope Foundation. He was also demonstrating a new motion-based video game, NBA Baller Beats, playing against his campers.

Though Allen did not play — he's still recovering from the ankle injury that limited him last season — he did appear at Calhoun's charity events last weekend and has remained at his home in Connecticut. Allen said he has not spoken to Calhoun, who fractured his hip last Saturday, but he has kept tabs on the coach's recovery through people close to him.

It's no secret that Calhoun would like Ollie, who played for UConn with Allen in the mid-1990s, to be named his designated successor. Athletic Director Warde Manuel has said he wants to keep options open. Calhoun, 70, has still not said what he intends to do next season.

"I have no clue what [Calhoun] is going to do," Allen said. "But I know when you've been doing something a long time, there's an emotional attachment to it. It's like a tree planted in the ground. You can't just cut it down; there are complicated roots planted under the ground. It's not a decision you make overnight."

Ollie, 39, played in the NBA, and his varied experiences are enough to offset his lack of specific college head-coaching experience, Allen says. They were teammates at UConn from 1993-95.

"He started out in the D-League," Allen said, "and he never had a guaranteed contract in the NBA, yet he got in 13 seasons. A lot of guys are drafted in the first round and don't play three years because they don't work hard enough. So he's a great example. ... The game had changed. They used to say in the NBA, you had to coach in the D-League; you had to coach overseas and come back and be an assistant before you get the opportunity to be a head coach. That's changed. You have to be able to motivate your players, you have to have good people around you and you have to be a great recruiter. Kevin has been around the program [as an assistant] for three or four years now. He played here; he knows what it's about, what's expected with the media here and so forth.

"… We're trying to build men here."

Allen, 37, rejected a two-year, $12 million offer from Boston to sign a three-year contract worth about $9 million with the champs. It was an awkward ending, Allen appearing to be unhappy with his role with the Celtics, who were eliminated by Miami in a tough playoff series.

"I was a free agent," he said, "and I had to make a decision I definitely thought was best for me to move forward. I'm excited about where I'm going. … I don't know what to expect, but I know what I expect from myself."

Allen said his ankle is now about 75 to 80 percent healthy, and he expects to be 100 percent when training camp starts next month. The Heat will open the season against the Celtics.

"I look at the guys I played with five years," he said. "I played seven years with the Bucks and four with Seattle, so at some point you're always going to have ex-teammates. But winning [a championship] with the guys in Boston, I have a bond with them. It's going to be a special game, though I am not an emotional person."

The big news in the NBA this week was the trade of Dwight Howard to the Lakers, who figure to go into the season as the biggest threat to unseat the Heat.

"They definitely bolstered their lineup," Allen said. "But [departed] Andrew Bynum helped them win championships. They've been very tough the last five or six years, and they will continue to be tough, another formidable opponent we're going to have to deal with."